Unfortunately, this one just wasn’t for me.
Auggie felt more like a teenage girl rather than an adult, post-college grad, prince set to inherit a throne. I understand that the story is supposed to be a modern rendition of someone born into a hereditary monarchy, but it just wasn’t clicking together for me.
Also, the initial meeting of the two MMCs was just so cringey that it literally hurt me to read.
There was so much drama that started from the get-go that was too overwhelming for me overall.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to receive this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book!
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
I really wanted to like this book, but there were so many gaps in the story. It's never really stated why Thomas's family is so against the monarchy, which is supposed to be driving the story. Thomas and August is an instant love, and I'm not a big fan of it, as it doesn't feel very authentic.
August blows so hot and cold with everyone around him, and everyone seems to want him to pretend to be someone he isn't. It felt like the conflicts between all the characters were resolved so quickly and it cheapened the book. It feels like none of the characters know what they actually want. The writing kept repeating itself and it got frustrating to keep reading it over and over.

📚✨ ARC REVIEW ✨📚
How to Date a Prince by Hayden Stone
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 (3.5/5 stars)

Thank you to Hayden Stone and NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Auggie, the crowned prince of England, has always known his life belongs to the crown. His duty? Don’t embarrass the monarchy—and eventually, produce an heir. The problem? Auggie is gay, and he’s resigned himself to living a life of quiet sacrifice… until he meets Thomas.

Thomas is the openly gay American heir to a hotel fortune, and he wants nothing to do with royalty. Their first meeting? A total disaster. Thomas spots Auggie at a nightclub and asks him to dance—Auggie, panicked and closeted, rejects him harshly.

Fate throws them back together when Auggie is signed up for a royal reality show in a bid to make the crown more relatable. And wouldn’t you know it? Thomas is also cast. Cue the tension, the slow-burn chemistry, and a royal heart caught between duty and desire.

I really felt for Auggie. He carries such a quiet loneliness, torn between who he is and what the world expects him to be. Watching him try to navigate that inner conflict while falling for someone who challenges everything he thought he couldn’t have? Gut-wrenching in the best way.

That said, the wishy-washy nature of Auggie and Thomas’s relationship was a little frustrating at times. There were so many starts and stops that it was difficult to be fully invested in their romance. I found myself wanting them to just figure it out already!

If you love:
🇬🇧 Royal romance
📺 Reality TV setups
🌈 Queer love stories
💘 Duty vs desire themes
💬 Slow-burn with emotional depth

This one’s worth a read. Auggie deserves the world.

#ARCReview #HowToDateAPrince #HaydenStone #RoyalRomance #QueerRomance #LGBTQBooks #SlowBurnRomance #RealityTVTrope #BookReview #RomanceReads #GayRomance #Bookstagram #Bookstagrammer #ReadWithPride #RoyalFiction #ClosetedRoyal #RomanceBookReview #NetGalleyReviewer

This book was just ok for me. The story sounded promising. I liked the idea of the prince going onto a reality tv show. I thought it would be an interesting spin.

Auggie was a good character and he was definitely messy enough to be on reality tv. The only problem for me was that I did not feel the chemistry between him and Thomas. It started out promising when they first met and I was feeling the tension, but then it became insta-love like. That's where it lost me.

They fell in love without us really getting to know them as individuals and truthfully as a couple. Also, the back and forth between the two of them was pretty repetitive and I wanted more of a dilemma than he is a prince and Thomas is an influencer and it would "never work." It felt really safe to me in a way and I thought Stone could have played more into other aspects of the royal family and such.

There were times the love story was cute but the book as a whole was predictable and just ok.

New Series of M / M Romance Novels

Hayden Stone's newest, How to Date a Prince, is the first in his Being Royal Series, meaning more volumes are to come. Each stands alone but the characters, as in most romance series, recur across some books.

When Prince Auggie's father decides that his joining a new reality TV show called Renaissance Man would be great PR for the monarchy, Auggie is officially not convinced. Even less so when he learns that certified anti-royalist Thomas Golden, influencer, goody-two shoes and heir to an American hotel fortune, will also be joining the cast. But things take a turn when Auggie and Thomas discover their mutual attraction, against all rules and odds..

Hayden Stone's prose flows, it is undeniable. But while his characters are fine and the plot only mildly (extremely!) contrived, there were several things that really distracted from the reading experience. For one, it seems that the author either did not research the British monarchy and culture or chose not to care how the very premise of his book is entirely unbelievable to British readers. From the residence of royals other than the King to British people not having ID cards and British characters using American vocabulary (and texting in US spelling..), there was just a lot not quite right about it. The premise of Renaissance Man is also great, but there seems to have been little research into the true workings of shooting and developing reality TV, making it look like a walk in the park with about an hour's worth of actual shoots five days a week. The tone of the novel is very YA, while I would recommend it to New Adult readers on account of the themes and spicy scenes. Another thing that really bugs me is that the cover feels extremely misleading, mostly on account of Auggie, a self-described fashionista, not really appearing in the book as depicted at all. Auggie's identity and fashion sense appear to be gimmicks to signify his sexual orientation rather than fully developed characters traits. I feel like this could have been elaborated on more and handled better. I also could not help thinking that the author might have included more research into queer and nonbinary lived experiences to inform his characters, lending them more depth than currently present.

But what I would say is that this book is excellent for readers who enjoyed Summer of Love and Red, White and Royal Blue. While the cover is very misleading, this is a sweet romance between a British Royal and an American influencer.
As an added bonus, there is a sneak-peek chapter of Handle with Care at the end of the book.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I made it roughly 30% into this book and whilst I enjoyed the storyline up to that point I realised it just wasn’t for me. I believe I might just be a little older than the demographic and that’s totally okay. I really did enjoy the characters and the banter and the direction the book was heading in. The book space always need more LGBTQ+ characters and books so I am grateful for the opportunity to have an ARC copy and witness this piece. Thank you!

This was such a tender, heartfelt read about finding love and choosing your own path even when the world expects something else. Auggie’s journey to self-acceptance is filled with quiet strength as he tries to shape a future that feels true to him, not one dictated by royal duty. His connection with a man who challenges everything the monarchy stands for is unexpected, but beautifully right. The story handles difficult themes with grace and compassion, and I’m so glad Auggie found both his voice and his happily ever after.

First of all, the cover was the reason for me being curious about the book. I was thinking Red, White & Royal Blue just reality TV version? And it was fun. The first half of the book had me so invested - tension, banter, sweet moments - everything was there. Sadly, the second half of the book dragged a little. I feel like not everything in the story was addressed and few times things felt forced.
Overall, a very fun and enjoyable light read. Perfect for summer.
3.5⭐

I read the description and desperately wanted to enjoy this book I was overall left disappointed by what had great potential.

For the positives, this book was cute and a quick read. I found myself wanting to connect with the characters and wondering where the story would lead.

The negatives, I just couldn't connect and was often left confused with inconsistent characters and plot that could've benefited from some paring down. There were a lot of interesting plot lines but with too many some felt dropped, rushed, or confusing.

This book ultimately had a lot of potential but could have benefited from being choosier in plot it focused on and slowing down to develop those more thoroughly.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for a review.

How To Date A Prince is a cutesy romcom set in London featuring a repressed, closeted Prince as heir to the throne and a charming, anti-monarchist American business man. While this book was definitely cute and the romance was ‘romancing’, there were a few things that just kinda put me off. Some things, like the scenery or what food is being eaten or clothes are being worn are very well described and makes for a wonderful mental image, but the inner monologues are lacking, with Auggie (our MC) making very important decisions or revealing very pertinent information from nearly dialogue alone. It read as a tv show more so, where you are able to envision everything but it’s difficult to discern what’s going to happen next or where someone’s headspace is at unless you’re focusing on their emotions/body language. The middle and the end of the book were great, with the story really picking up around the end of the first third. The first third, however, generally just feels like infodumping about characters which I felt could be done more smoothly and subtlety throughout the book. I did absolutely love how protective Thomas was, and his yearning was VISCERAL!! Some of his lines had me swooning, even as a lesbian. There were also a few notable spelling and grammar mistakes, which I understand can slip through the cracks, but just stood out to me a bit. Overall, I am so grateful to have been able to read this arc and loved the development of Auggie and Thom’s relationship, even if there were several instances where I wished things were elaborated on much more and had to re-read a few pages to understand what was happening.

I absolutely love anything royal and was excited to read this book! I absolutely loved the idea of the reality show Renaissance Man. I feel as though that was a great addition to the story. Prince Auggie is the main character and honestly he at times made me very frustrated. I did not like how he treated his friend Katie and the banter/accusations between him and Thomas gave me a bit of whip lash. I was confused at times by their quick banter to then hate or vice versa and found myself rereading some parts. Overall the plot was well paced, and I read this book very quickly. I was just always waiting for a bit more. I did enjoy the end when Auggie finally found his voice. Overall I give this book 3.5/5 stars.

I actually breezed through this story. It’s fun and lighthearted, and an easy read for the beach or curled up on the couch. Thomas is a cinnamon bun and I always have a soft spot for those. Think Boyfriend Material meets Red, White, and Royal Blue.

Because of everything I mentioned above, I desperately wanted to rate this book at least four stars. I love enemies-to-lovers, but what I like less is going back and forth in a relationship. Sadly, this was the case with Auggie and Thomas. Auggie pushed Thomas away almost constantly, then made up again, until the next moment when everything started all over again. Even up to the end when I thought they would finally stay together. But they didn’t and I couldn’t do anything else but push the three-star button.

Like I said, this is a great beach read and a fun story if you want to escape from the real world for a while. And sometimes we need those stories desperately.

Thank you Netgalley for this arc and author Hayden Stone for writing this wonderful book!

I really enjoyed reading this book! I am such a huge fan of the sort of "forbidden aspect" of their relationship and how Auggie kept pushing Thomas away because of his role as a prince and how he needed to get a wife to fulfil his fathers wishes although I do wish the forbidden-ness of this relationship was emphasised more not just through the monarchy x anti-monarchy trope, but through the reality TV show they are on. I honestly hoped that the reality TV would be them courting girls so if they were in a relationship it would ruin the show, making more things push them apart.

I LOVED LOVED LOVED all the clothing description of everything Auggie wore. He has such great taste (may need to steal some of his ideas) and his character arc was EVERYTHING. I mean slowly realising that he should be able to do things which make him happy (ehem.. Thomas) and coming out to his dad and then the whole world?

His friends are also so so great! All you need are are people like them and then you're set for life. I found the Anne-Gav-him thing really interesting because I slowly pieced together everything (had me a bit shook)

Also the banter? UGH I ADORED IT. Especially them making fun of each others American VS British heritage and how they always made fun of each other for it!

There are definitely points in this book which I didn't enjoy as much and the full review will be on my goodreads linked below!

Overall, 4 stars!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7725595090

This was intended to be a fun, light hearted romcom, seemingly in line with red, white and royal blue. The premise started off great with royal princes, anti-monarchists and reality TV all thrown into the mix. I truly wanted to love this book. However there were certain aspects of the book which threw me off.

The good bits: It's a breeze to read, the plot and writing flows along very quickly. They are unexpectedly interesting turns of phrase and some truly fun moments.

The not-so-good bits: The characters were all over the place. There was no internal consistency to their actions and motivations. One minute they were storming off like teenagers over imagined offences, the next instant they were every so forgiving and understanding without any proper conversation/ resolution about the issues that sparked the arguments in the first place. It was so jarring and truly took away a lot of the reading pleasure. There was such poor communication among all the characters, so much of the 'conflict' could have been resolved if the characters just communicated like normal adults instead of storming off at every given opportunity when there was a disagreement.

It was a shame that the most of the characters read as caricatures of a person, including the MC Auggie. There was too much information dumping about how Auggie was feeling, his internal motivations ( which were so inconsistent) and not enough interactions and actions that illustrated these facts.

I had to suspend my disbelief at the actions and motivations of the all the characters in this book to even be able to finish this book. A lot of the banter was very stilted and some characters were so horribly rude for no good reason. I would have expected a little more finesse and creativity in the conversations and insults that were exchanged.

This book had so much potential and it truly was a shame that it did not live up to expectations.

Thank you to NetGalley for this free ARC.

(3.5)

as a massive fan of Red White and Royal Blue I was hoping this book would will the rwrb sized void in the heart. overall, I was very much into the plot and pacing of the book, I found myself on the edge of seat waiting for what happened next every time I finished a chapter. and the plot in general of the reality show made it extremely interesting

where I found issues was in the character of Thomas, as they book is entirely in auggies perspective I felt that we learned very little about his character. In the vain of the RWRB comparison, in RWRB despite it being one perspective we learn so much about the love interest. Whereas with Thomas we learn so little about him as a person, who is his inner circle, his family, etc. So I felt as if I cared far less about their love story as I didn't care for Thomas as much. I would loved to learn more about him and his life, especially with the anti-monarchy side plot I feel like it could've been explored more.

I also found the writing was very descriptive at the start, a lot of telling and not showing. when describing characters/setting it was very "I put my long blonde beach waves into a messy bun, and then put ono my band tee and denim shorts and walked down the brown wooden starts.... etc ... etc.

other then that I was very entertained, and I loved the reality tv setting!!!
also completely missed opportunity for a Fuck The Monarchy joke

I really thought I would love this book, but it didn't hit for me. If I'm honest, I didn't like either MC, and the whiny fights made no sense. For the most part, it felt juvenile. If it weren't for sex scenes, I would have thought I was reading YA. There's nothing wrong with that, but that is not what this is described as. It's compared to RW&RB, and that's just not accurate at all. I don't want to say this was bad because everyone is different. I loved the idea but not so much the execution. This one just wasn't for me.

I wanted to like this book more than I did, really. There were definitely elements that were enjoyable or likable at the very least. Both MMC’s reminded me of the main characters of Red,White, and Royal Blue a book I really enjoyed reading. Books with a character going on a journey of self discovery are really interesting and powerful when done the right way. Unfortunately that’s just about the end to the strengths this book had.

The amount of times “Thomas Golden” is uttered in the first ten chapters alone was a bit off putting even for a character who speaks a bit more formally. I’m not sure if it’s the way Auggie’s relationships were portrayed, or the fact that he uses his supposed female best friend as a cover multiple times proceeding to apologize only to do it again was more off putting, but he just doesn’t feel all that sympathetic or relatable. I love rooting for intense chemistry or forbidden romance but this book just fell a bit flat in that department.

With as many times as they went through the “will they won’t they” throughout the book, especially the last few chapters was enough to give you whiplash.

I loved the potential the book had, unfortunately the potential wasn’t enough for me.

Reading slump strikes again!

I really loved the premise of this book and have enjoyed what I’ve read of the book so far. But I’m in a huge reading slump and just can’t finish reading it right now.

This book was so much more than just a simple romance story. It was a coming-out and coming to terms with one's identity, dealing with depression, injury and loss, as well as the expectations that others set for you. Auggie went through so much in this book and I definitely cried about half a dozen times for him (if not more).

Of course, his story with Thomas is beautifully written and I was all for it when I started reading book but what got me hooked to my kindle and reading for 3 hours straight was our not so straight main character. I loved Auggie so much and as a bisexual person who is only out to one person, his struggles with his identity and coming out to his family and friends were relatable and devastating. Of course, the stakes are higher for him than for me because of the whole "future king" thing.

When I started this book this morning I didn't know I would go on to feel so many emotions for these characters. At first, I was a bit skeptical because it felt like the "enemies-to-lovers" plot died too quickly and I was concerned for the rest of the story, but the struggles, the fights, the misunderstandings, they made up for it. And it definitely went in a completely new direction from what I was expecting.

I looked at the cover and the title and thought it was going to be similar to "Red, White and Royal Blue" and not gonna lie, the vibe was the same so if you liked RWRB then you'll probably like this one as well, but the story changes so much and honestly I think it became even better than Casey McQuiston's book.

I don't know what else to say except that I'm sad that I finished this book because I'll miss the characters, especially Auggie, and I'm excited for the second one.

How to Date a Prince by Hayden Stone
⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3 out of 5 stars)

So… the concept? Loved it. A closeted British prince, a sassy American influencer with anti-monarchy views, and a reality TV setup straight out of chaos dreams? It had so much potential. But unfortunately, the execution didn’t hit the mark for me.

Let’s start with Prince Auggie: he’s sweet, awkward, and definitely trying to navigate a world he never really signed up for. The story kicks off with a cringey club encounter and then throws both Auggie and Thomas Golden—his rival/love interest—into a forced proximity setup while cameras roll. Sounds like fun, right?

Well… here’s the thing: the whole “enemies to lovers” vibe didn’t feel earned. The tension between them? Kind of forced. And once Auggie decides he’s obsessed with Thomas, it’s just Thomas this, Thomas that, Thomas in every single thought. It felt less like a natural connection and more like infatuation on overdrive.

On top of that, there were some really strange character choices. The best friend almost-kiss? Weird. The female best friend who knows he’s gay but still sleeps with him? Even weirder. It just didn’t make sense emotionally, and it pulled me out of the story more than once. A lot of plot holes and character decisions just didn’t feel believable, especially when things could’ve been handled in more grounded ways.

That said, the book wasn’t a total loss. The idea behind the story had heart. You can tell there’s a message in there about finding your truth, breaking away from expectations, and risking comfort for love — and I appreciate that. But it needed a bit more polish and depth to make the romance feel real.

Final thoughts:
If you’re looking for something light and dramatic with royalty, queer romance, and reality TV flair, it might still be a fun read. But for me, the execution didn’t live up to the premise. A solid 3 stars for the idea and a few sweet moments — but it could’ve been so much more.